A frigatebird snatching some prey (dropped by another frigatebird) from the ocean surface (Photo Credit: Duncan Wright).

This is a Kyrielle, inspired by recent research which found that whilst birds that fly extensive distances are able to fly in their sleep, it may be that they instead undergo long periods of being awake. This particular study monitored the sleeping patterns of frigatebirds using a small device to measure changes in brain activity and head movements whilst the birds were flying. The results of the study found that even though the birds were able to fly whilst sleeping (either with one hemisphere of their brain asleep at a time, or both hemispheres simultaneously asleep), the birds spent the majority of their time awake, sleeping for less than an hour a day over periods of up to 10 days, and distances in excess of 3000 km. Given that the same birds sleep for over 12 hours a day when on land, this would indicate that the birds are able to function to a high degree (foraging for food, riding air currents, avoiding mid-air collisions etc.) with a significant lack of sleep. Studying how frigatebirds are able to sustain such adaptive performances on such little sleep may eventually help us to better understand how humans can also better adapt to functioning on reduced sleep patterns.